Barrick Niugini Ltd assists Alembo achieve his dream

Barrick (Niugini) Ltd (BNL), operator of the Porgera gold mine, has assisted a young man from the Upper Maipangi village in Porgera to achieve his dream of becoming an educator.
Leo Alembo is now a qualified teacher in early childhood education after graduating with a certificate in early childhood teacher training and phonics from the Kumul Training Institute in Port Moresby on Oct 28 this year.
Despite having a partial  disability on one of his legs, Alembo had been a volunteer teacher in basic literacy  in schools in the Porgera valley for four years prior to taking up studies with the assistance of BNL.
He completed Grade 10 at the Porgera High School in 2006 and later attained a certificate in information technology (IT) from the Porgera Technical and Vocational Education Centre.
With a desire to do more, Alembo sought the assistance of BNL through a sponsorship request in June 2016 through the Corporate Social Responsibility Department (CSR).
Through the Community Relations and Engagement (CR&E) donor programme under CSR, Barrick (Niugini) Ltd met Leo’s travel costs, accommodation and meals  for the duration of his 12-week training which he undertook in July at the Kumul Training Institute.
Upon returning in Oct, Leo went to the Porgera mine site and expressed his gratitude to BNL and the Porgera Disability Persons Association (PDPA) for liaising initially with BNL to secure his sponsorship.
Meeting with staff of the PJV CR&E department, he said he had learnt a lot of new teaching systems and was excited to get into the classrooms and deliver lessons.
“BNL has been very helpful. With the training I learnt a lot of new things and I want to be able to provide a service with what I have gained. I want to teach young children about the new things I have learnt,” he said.
Alembo plans to further his education to attain a diploma in teaching in the future but for now he is settled on teaching children.